Ok, I looked it up: California exam? For IL, I had to do Praxis and ACTFL. ACTFL consisted solely of speaking. Praxis was listening, culture, grammar. I bombed the culture. Listening was super easy.

What did the culture portion consist of? When you say you bombed it, does that mean you didn't pass the overall test, or didn't pass the culture portion, or passed the culture, but by the skin of your teeth?

I got in the 90s percentile range for the whole test. For culture, I don-t remember, its' been a while, over 6 years. SOmething like, what country is this city in? WHat culture did ABC come from? What year was X founded? I don't rememebr. Though I-m sure your library would have info on it. Or you could find a study guide online.

I didn't study at all. Went in cold turkey. Came out with a 90 something percent.

Last edited by naturegirl321 on Thu May 17, 2012 4:28 am; edited 1 time in total

I got in the 90% for the whole test. For culture, I don-t remember, its' been a while, over 6 years. SOmething like, what country is this city in? WHat culture did ABC come from? What year was X founded? I don't rememebr. Though I-m sure your library would have info on it. Or you could find a study guide online.

I didn't study at all. Went in cold turkey. Came out with a 90 something percent.

Thanks, Nature Girl. 90% is impressive, especially for going in cold. I looked over a sample of the DELE, and was able to get reading comp practice questions at 100%, and am certain I would do fine on the spoken and listening portions, but have never done academic writing in Spanish and it's been some time since I've even done it in English. Checked out some CSET sample materials, and got 100% on the grammar stuff, but had no idea about the content of the theories they mentioned in some of the questions. There are areas I'd need to bone up on if I ever chose to take a standardized test to teach Spanish.

I got in the 90% for the whole test. For culture, I don-t remember, its' been a while, over 6 years. SOmething like, what country is this city in? WHat culture did ABC come from? What year was X founded? I don't rememebr. Though I-m sure your library would have info on it. Or you could find a study guide online.

I didn't study at all. Went in cold turkey. Came out with a 90 something percent.

Thanks, Nature Girl. 90% is impressive, especially for going in cold. I looked over a sample of the DELE, and was able to get reading comp practice questions at 100%, and am certain I would do fine on the spoken and listening portions, but have never done academic writing in Spanish and it's been some time since I've even done it in English. Checked out some CSET sample materials, and got 100% on the grammar stuff, but had no idea about the content of the theories they mentioned in some of the questions. There are areas I'd need to bone up on if I ever chose to take a standardized test to teach Spanish.

That's never going to happen--not for you or anyone. Unless for some strange reason a person spoke to the exact same people in English and Spanish, read the exact same texts in English and Spanish, watched the exact same movies and programs in both languages, listened to the exact same music and radio broadcasts. Basically repeated every single thing they did in both languages all day every day.
If you do any study at all on bilingualism you will realise that not even people like your child will have the same ablities in both (or all) of her languages. The idea of a balanced bilingual is a myth that doesn't exsist. Bilingualism is fluid, it ebbs and tides through out a person's life. Their dominate language can change as their routines and living situations change. As we grow we encounter new domains, and in those domains we use one or the other language.
Fluent is a tricky word, because there is no standard measure--Most profesional linguists who study the phenomna of bilingualism-not those who teach foriegn languages--define fluent as the ablity to effective use a language in a give situation. Using that definition, I know a lot of people who are fluent in Market Spanish. But not fluent in other domains of use.

That's never going to happen--not for you or anyone. Unless for some strange reason a person spoke to the exact same people in English and Spanish, read the exact same texts in English and Spanish, watched the exact same movies and programs in both languages, listened to the exact same music and radio broadcasts. Basically repeated every single thing they did in both languages all day every day.
If you do any study at all on bilingualism you will realise that not even people like your child will have the same ablities in both (or all) of her languages. The idea of a balanced bilingual is a myth that doesn't exsist. Bilingualism is fluid, it ebbs and tides through out a person's life. Their dominate language can change as their routines and living situations change. As we grow we encounter new domains, and in those domains we use one or the other language.
Fluent is a tricky word, because there is no standard measure--Most profesional linguists who study the phenomna of bilingualism-not those who teach foriegn languages--define fluent as the ablity to effective use a language in a give situation. Using that definition, I know a lot of people who are fluent in Market Spanish. But not fluent in other domains of use.

I know. I guess I consider fluent to be bilingual. And I'll never be bilingual. So I'll never be fluent.

I'm going to try and steal my forum back here So, I should have specified exactly what I'm trying to do. Which is this:

Spend a year abroad in Ecuador the cheapest way possible while simultaneously working on my Spanish, and getting involved with the community.

That being said, I've found a LOT of different volunteer opportunities that allow me to do this. Now my only problem is being able to tell if the organizations are real or not. My main concern now is one called Ecuador Volunteer Foundation. It's the most inexpensive I have found (at roughly 1,000 dollars for an entire year, not including airfare)... but I'm a little cautious b/c every other program costs like $5-6 thousand. Any thoughts!?

I'm going to try and steal my forum back here So, I should have specified exactly what I'm trying to do. Which is this:

Spend a year abroad in Ecuador the cheapest way possible while simultaneously working on my Spanish, and getting involved with the community.

That being said, I've found a LOT of different volunteer opportunities that allow me to do this. Now my only problem is being able to tell if the organizations are real or not. My main concern now is one called Ecuador Volunteer Foundation. It's the most inexpensive I have found (at roughly 1,000 dollars for an entire year, not including airfare)... but I'm a little cautious b/c every other program costs like $5-6 thousand. Any thoughts!?

I've never been to Ecuador so take everything I say with a grain of salt. If they are asking money up front than more than likely they are a scam. It's important to remember that a lot of non-profits in south america are actually for-profit enterprises that take advantage of naive, idealistic gringos. Your intentions seem good so probably best not to patronize such establishments. If I were you, I'd come down to SA, then look for some volunteer opportunities. You might even be able to create your own, maybe something like a film club or help some young college students learn something about cinema. Local universities may be the best places for looking into that. This is more realistic and probably more productive than any sort of "feel good" volunteer gig that you'll find online.

Hostels are cheap in quito and surrounding areas, so I don't think it'd be a problem for you to just come down and post up at a hostel for a couple weeks, then you can look for more long term accommodation. if you do a google search of "departamentos compartidos quito" you can find all sorts of shared accommodations for pretty cheap (prices seem to be $100-$200+ a month). You may need to find a bilingual person to help you navigate housing once you're there, but it shouldn't be too hard; from what I've heard, ecuador has a lot of english schools and people learning english so you should be able to find someone to help you (couchsurfing.org will be invaluable here).

Hope this helps,

kona

p.s. naturegirl, don't be so dismissive of your spanish ability. if you can communicate and be understood then thats a big junk of being "bilingual". I always tell that to my students that are learning english; communication and intelligibility is the key to being bilingual. Theres still quite a bit of English words that I'm still unfamiliar with, and its my first language!